Chapotraphouse

I definitely used girl-coded screen names before I even admitted to myself that I was trans, and choosing to post under the name "Lilly" is important. But the final statement seems relevant too. "My name is Aaron" can't be ignored or forgotten.

But then again, looking at that final statement, there was the use of the phrase "I am an active duty member of the United States Air Force" instead of "airman". All the reporting says "airman" but, in those final words, that's not what was actually said.

Then there's the final post "Many of us like to ask ourselves “What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?" What if the answer to that question is "remain closeted so my final political act remains focused on Palestine"? Was this a choice to be remembered as a man made out of worry that anything else would be a distraction from the protest action? It's possible. Was the video posted under “lillyanarkitty” as a silent scream to not be remembered as just a man? Was it a non-binary choice, to be remembered as both Aaron and Lilly in their last moments?

I don't think I feel comfortable making any definitive choice. So, I avoid gendering as much as possible.

It is extremely typical for trans women in the early stages of their coming out process to publicly go under their old name and pronouns, explore their actual gender identity on entirely seperate online accounts and identify as "bigender" or "genderfluid". Transmisogyny is brutal and makes it extremely terrifying for us to come out, there were times in my life were i, too would have had an easier time setting myself on fire than declaring who i actually was. And the same goes for most of my friends and the majority of my community.

i don’t disagree with you. i do think it is significant that the event was live-streamed on an account called ‘Lilly Anarkitty’. the paper also describes Bushnell using a masculine name and pronouns on LinkedIn and Facebook, and a feminine name and pronouns on Mastodon, YouTube, Discord, and Twitch. to me, one of those groups is more representative of a person’s actual identity. and as the paper says on page 4, “There is a reason it would matter. Trans decedents are often subject to violence even in death; there is a saying that “they call it a deadname … precisely because the people in your life bury you under it”. Given that reality combined with the fact that trans people face a tremendously elevated likelihood of premature death from all causes, death and the treatment of the dead occupy a little-discussed yet central position in the current consciousness and culture of the transgender community. Our perception was that if Bushnell was transfeminine, then we had a communal obligation to take care of her in death.”